Info for a NZ visit - Oct 10 (1 Viewer)

[Gruff Dodd]

Hi

Hoping to visit NZ on a birding trip in october 2010. Planning proceeding quite well, but I would be extremely grateful for any answers to the following, please:

1. Brown Kiwi - Does anyone know if Kerry Oates is still doing guided tours for Brown Kiwi near Ohakune? If so, do you have a contact email address for him

2. Shore Plover - Is it possible to visit Mana Island near Wellington , without having to make special arrangements / chartering a boat etc? Is there anywhere on the mainland where these can be seen?

3. NZ Little Grebe - Where would you recommend? Anywhere reliable near Auckland, or en route down to Wellington?

4. NZ Falcon - any reliable sites? Are they still fairly easy to see on Motuara Island? How about Karori?

5. Rock Wren - are these birds possible at Homer Tunnel these days? Is this still the best spot for them?

6. Malherbe's Parakeet - does anyone have directions as to where to look for this species in the Hawden Valley?

7. South Island NZ Dotterel - are there likely to be any of these birds at Awarua Bay at that time of year?

8. Wrybill - similarly, is it likely that there will be any of these birds at Miranda or Mangere at that time of year?

Any help you can offer would be extremely gratefully received!

Many thanks,

Gruff Dodd

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Mount Cook Village was where I saw NZ Falcon. I think that's a good area. Ask at the visitor centre to see if they can give you info.

I'm sure Rock Wren should still be possible at Homer Tunnel.

I saw about 100 Wrybills at Miranda in early December 2008, so I should think there'll be some around in October. If you go to the South Island then look for them at the Black Stilt site at the north end of Lake Pukaki.

 

[swiss7]

Hi Gruff,
I've been in contact with Kerry Oates and no go on the tours unfortunately! Brown kiwi was one of my few dips during a short trip last month.

I saw NZ little grebe in quite a few spots on the North Island. I saw quite a number of them on the evaporation ponds in Otaki (on the west coast north of Wellington).

NZ Falcon is meant to be reliable at Pureora Forest Park (middle of Nth Island). I missed them there, but saw yellow-crowned parakeet, robin, tomtit, kokako, kaka, rifleman, whitehead, etc.. really easily there in a short visit.

Good luck with the rest

 

[Clive Watson]

1. Brown Kiwi - Guided tours at Trounson. We dipped due to rubbish weather. Apparently the best strategy is to stay out after the tour and continue looking, less noise and disturbance then.

2. Shore Plover - Don't know about Mana but I doubt there's anywhere for this on the mainland. I inquired about the Motorua birds but that reintroduction failed.

3. NZ Little Grebe - Bumped into a few. The sewage ponds near Waiwera are good.

4. NZ Falcon - as far as I know nowhere is reliable.

5. Rock Wren - Homer Tunnel is definitely the site to go to. The car park is right by the entrance to the tunnel, don't do what we did and park by the weather station a few hundred yards earlier. We were put off parking by the tunnel by avalanche warning signs but it is the right car park. In October there might be a fair bit of snow around, obscuring the DOC signs indicating the trail (as happened when we were there).

6. Malherbe's Parakeet - no idea but there's some stuff on this on another thread I think.

7. South Island NZ Dotterel - dunno, didn't look.

8. Wrybill - several at Miranda last October.

Hope this helps!

 

[birdboybowley]

We were there in October - the avalanche warning signs will probably be up along the Milford Sound road so you won't be allowed to stop anywhere but the carpark by the weather station is usually ok - there's a pair of wren adjacent to it on the big rocks and you can actually see them from the car!
Agree with the Trounsoun Park for NI Brown Kiwis - the tour's actually pretty good but stay after they've all gone and go looking. There's a pair near the 'auditorium'

Here's a link to my trip report on BF that might help :

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=119663

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[tony.saw]

We were there last October and had Brown Kiwi with Detlef Davies at Birders Rest. We had failed over 2 nights at Trounsoun Park, but did see a lot of possums! The guided tour was very noisey! Detlef also got us good views of morepork and told us of a site where there were grebes at the time. The falcon we had at Mt Cook village perched on a roof. As for Clive with the rock wren. Hawden Valley for the Orange crowned Parakeet, but be prepared to wade. We overnighted at the 'camp ground' at the end of the road and then walked/waded down the valley to some woods on the left. There were some wrybill at Miranda, but distant, much better was the black stilt site.
Hope this is of some use, pm me if you want any further info
Tony

 

[iain johnson]

Hi

Hoping to visit NZ on a birding trip in october 2010. Planning proceeding quite well, but I would be extremely grateful for any answers to the following, please:

1. Brown Kiwi - Does anyone know if Kerry Oates is still doing guided tours for Brown Kiwi near Ohakune? If so, do you have a contact email address for him

would recommend using detlef davies

2. Shore Plover - Is it possible to visit Mana Island near Wellington , without having to make special arrangements / chartering a boat etc? Is there anywhere on the mainland where these can be seen?

yes, but not cheap as you have to charter the boat but you can advertise spaces on the nz birding forum which is what i did. however the weather in this part of the world can be tricky and anything over 30 knots would mean the trip is cancelled.

3. NZ Little Grebe - Where would you recommend? Anywhere reliable near Auckland, or en route down to Wellington?

mangere sewage works adjacent to auckland airport, will also have wrybill, godwit and knot

4. NZ Falcon - any reliable sites? Are they still fairly easy to see on Motuara Island? How about Karori?

have been seen in and around wellington city centre, try the eastbourne side of the harbour and walk towards pencarrow lighthouse

5. Rock Wren - are these birds possible at Homer Tunnel these days? Is this still the best spot for them?

yes

6. Malherbe's Parakeet - does anyone have directions as to where to look for this species in the Hawden Valley?

PM me and I'll dig these out.

7. South Island NZ Dotterel - are there likely to be any of these birds at Awarua Bay at that time of year?

maybe

8. Wrybill - similarly, is it likely that there will be any of these birds at Miranda or Mangere at that time of year?

Yes, will be at both but need to get the tides rights, try the weather service for up to to date tide info

Any help you can offer would be extremely gratefully received!

Many thanks,

Gruff Dodd

cheers e

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Hi Gruff,

The NZ section of this trip report might help (starting on the linked page) but it's a bit long!

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=100901&page=17

It covers 5 months in NZ where we pretty much cleaned up on landbirds except Kakapo, Shore Plover, Haast Kiwi and SI Dotterel.

If you still need the specific spot for Malherbe's Parakeet in Hawdon Valley, then PM me.

I'd also recommend you get in touch with BF's Chlidonias, who's a top bloke in Christchurch who could do with some transport, but has lots of gen.

Have a goodun,

Larry

 

[ianreid]

NZ in Oct / Rock Wren

Dear Gruff,

I will be going to NZ in second week of November for work in Queenstown but with a couple of days (one either side) for birding. I am trying to decide whether a trip to Milford Sound / Homer Tunnel is worth it.

I am therefore really keen to find out how you get on if you do go for Rock Wren at the tunnel. If it proves really tough for you then the other key species there are ones I have a decent chance of picking up elsewhere (Kea) or would be prepared to miss (FC Penguin, Blue Duck which seems to be hit-and-miss anyway) -- so your success or failure would probably tip the balance for me.

It would be great if you could let me know somehow -- ideally with a post to this thread! (or email/PM). Likewise if I find out anything that might be useful for your trip during my research for mine I'll let you know.

One negative bit of gen is that Homer Tunnel seems to be the *only* place that Rock Wren is reliable (and accessible). I had been hoping that maybe some of the walking trails near Mt Cook Village might be fruitful, but I've not had any positive news about that. I could be wrong but the last sightings there seem to be from a few years ago. Kea are possible/probably there also, but not as in-your-face as at the tunnel, and I also hope to pick up Wrybill near the Black Stilt site at Glentanner, as per Andrew Whitehouse (Thanks Andrew!).

Cheers, Ian

 

[tony.saw]

We were there last year in Oct/Nov. The rock wren was near the tunnel, but took some finding (although there was still quite a lot of snow around). We managed to get the penguin at Omarau as well as a pelagic from Stewart Island. Wrybill was at the Glentanner site and we had very good views (much better than Miranda, where we expected to see them). Mt Cook village gave good views of NZ Falcon - ask at visitor centre, one of the people in there had them on her roof nearly every day apparently)
If you want any other info, do let me know.
Have fun
Tony
PS Sorry if most of this is a repeat of my previous post!